Further progress in the cycle of negotiations

Speaking at the end of the meeting, Gérard Leclercq, Executive Vice President, Chairman of Operations, France, said: “ At the previous meeting the trade unions asked us to review some items. This is what we did today. If we arrive at an agreement, the implementation of the measures proposed will save us €300 per car produced in France. At Flins, for example, this will enable us to boost Clio IV production, in particular by producing high-end versions at the plant such as the Initiale Paris model ”.

Commitments on volumes for all French sites

The signature of an agreement would enable the company to confirm its commitment to maintain all its French manufacturing sites and, with the prospect of a recovery in the European market, to grow the overall activity level to 710,000 vehicles a year by 2016, up from around 530,000 in 2012.

The commitment is based on a gain of 100,000 vehicles linked to the renewal of the Renault range plan and on an additional 80,000 vehicles produced for our partners. This would increase the overall utilization rate of French sites to over 85% by 2016 and provide visibility for all the sites through 2020 and beyond. That level of activity would also benefit all the French powertrain sites, which produce running gear, engines and gearboxes, and the logistics sites.

At the meeting, Renault announced the vehicle allocations that will confirm activity levels at its manufacturing sites in France:

• The Maubeuge site will handle the Kangoo phase 3 project;
• The Flins site is guaranteed an activity level of 110,000 vehicles, notably with the production of high value-added Clio IV models (GT versions, tinted roof equipment, Initiale Paris model) and right-hand-drive Clio IV cars currently manufactured at Bursa in Turkey;
• Part of the production volumes of the J gearbox – currently produced at the CACIA site in Portugal – will be transferred to Cléon.

Inter-site secondments purely on a voluntary basis

Renault and the trade unions went on to review the measures proposed. Regarding inter-site secondments, the management agreed to review the compulsory secondment project. This measure will not be included in the final draft agreement. Inter-site secondments will be made purely on a voluntary basis.

Negotiation meetings will be held in the coming weeks to draw up an agreement document, which will then be presented to the Central Works Council and the works councils of the subsidiaries concerned, prior to the signature between the trade unions and Renault group Chairman Carlos Ghosn.